George Lesher helps Severna Park reach Class 4A baseball final

George Lesher pitched Severna Park into the Class 4A state baseball finals on Wednesday as the Falcons defeated C.H. Flowers in a semifinal game at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda.

George Lesher pitched Severna Park into the Class 4A state baseball finals on Wednesday as the Falcons defeated C.H. Flowers in a semifinal game at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda. (Paul W. Gillespie / Capital Gazette)

BETHESDA — George Lesher is one of a series of Severna Park players that get the job done at the plate, in the field and on the mound. Lesher moved from behind the plate to take the hill Wednesday afternoon against C.H. Flowers in the Class 4A state semifinal at Shirley Povich Field.

Lesher allowed just two hits and two unearned runs over six innings and Luke Guy had two key hits and an RBI as the Falcons knocked off the Jaguars, 6-4.

Severna Park (21-3) will play for its fourth state championship Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen against either Howard or Bethesda-Chevy Chase. The Falcons are making their eighth state tournament appearance since 2002, including their third in the last four seasons. Howard knocked the Falcons out in last year’s state semifinals.

“Today — coming in here — we all knew what happened last year,” Lesher said. “We attacked everything, in the field and at the plate.”

The Jaguars (18-4) were making their first appearance at the state tournament, but unlike so many other wide-eyed neophytes, Flowers came to play. Starting pitcher Thomas Espinosa induced a key double-play in the first and tossed a 1-2-3 second to lay the foundation for his team.

“This is years and years of cultivating to get here,” C.H. Flowers coach George Brown said. “It is not an overnight thing. We developed them slowly to prepare them for this game, and to show them that this game was just like any other game. They just needed to come here and do what they normally do.”

The Jaguars got on board first when Chardale Folks reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the second. He stole second and scored two batters later on another Severna Park error.

“We made some mistakes that we need to clean up before Friday night,” Severna Park coach Eric Milton said.

Guy led the Falcons’ response in the third. He led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a single by Garrett Whitaker. A wild pitch moved them both over and Guy scored the tying run on a groundout by AJ Weyant.

“I got a 3-2 count and was hoping to get a fastball up in the zone, and that is what I got,” Guy said.

What followed was a series of mistakes by Flowers — four walks and two errors — which allowed Severna Park to score four runs and take control of the game.

“Those errors,” Brown said. “We are out of the inning allowing just the one run if we do not give away the third and fourth outs. We needed to stop that hemorrhaging, and it cost Espinosa a lot of pitches.”

Flowers got one back in the third when Tremayne Cobb, Jr. coaxed a two-out walk, stole second and third base, and scored on Severna Park’s third error of the game. The highly-touted junior reached base three times for the Jaguars.

Lesher would not allow Severna Park to fall back any further. He tossed a 1-2-3 fourth and sixth, and stranded two runners on base in the fifth.

“I felt pretty good out there, probably the best I have felt all season,” Lesher said. “My fastball was pretty live and my curveball and slider were working as well. It was exciting to be out there.”

Milton praised his durable double-duty man.

“You could not ask for much more from him could you?,” Milton asked. “He has pitched like that all year and we had all the confidence in the world in him. He gets us right to where we want to be on Friday night.”

The Falcons tacked single insurance runs on in the sixth, on a Nick Horgan sacrifice fly, and the seventh, on an RBI single by Guy. Severna Park managed seven hits, but also took advantage of nine walks.

“We are pretty patient up there, and we usually do a pretty good job of that,” Guy said.

Milton noted Guy’s resilience as well.

“He played basketball this winter and found out that he had a stress fracture in his back in February,” Milton said. “I did not think we were going to have him this season. He has come back and had some big games, some big hits, for us.”

Kody MIlton came on in relief of Lesher in the seventh. Jaden Pinkney led off the inning with a home run and James Toney scored after hitting a single, but Kody Milton got Espinosa to pop up directly to him with two outs. With Lesher, now back behind the plate, looking on, Kody Milton snared the pop-up and clinched the team’s advance to the final.

“It was awesome,” Guy said. “George went out there and did his job. He has been a warrior all season. It was like the fifth or sixth time that he has gone from pitcher to catcher in a game, or vice versa, and gotten the job done.”

Eric Milton praised his team’s focus in the victory.

“It is so hard to get here, especially going through Old Mill and Arundel to just get to this game,” Eric Milton said. “It says a lot about the kids and the school. We preached all week that this was not going to be an easy game. (Flowers) came to play, and they played us tough until the end.”

Severna Park (21-3) 004 001 1 — 6 7 3

C.H. Flowers (18-4) 011 000 2 — 4 4 2

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Brooke Watts and Mackenzie Meehan talk about what it took to rally against Severna Park and win three sets to take the 4A East Section I title, 3-2. (Nov. 7. 2018)

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Brooke Watts and Mackenzie Meehan talk about what it took to rally against Severna Park and win three sets to take the 4A East Section I title, 3-2. (Nov. 7. 2018)

Brooke Watts and Mackenzie Meehan talk about what it took to rally against Severna Park and win three sets to take the 4A East Section I title, 3-2. (Nov. 7. 2018)

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Sparrows Point coach Mike Whisner and South River coach John Klessinger discuss their match during the South River Invitational (Dec. 29, 2018).

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Severna Park’s Jess Albert and Rachel Spilker discuss their win over Glenelg Country in the AACS tournament (Dec. 27, 2018).

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